A few weeks go by and everything was a bit more on the quiet side. The war was at a stalemate for now.
I woke up in a bed stationed in my old dorm room. It felt nice being back home. Now that the Fallen Beasts were dealt with, all that left us with was the Risen and Qiao Zhi. War was still active around the world, but I had new hopes. I had my allies with me, I am no longer alone.
Saito shifted a bit in the bed then rolled on her side and opened her eyes. She looked at me then smiled. "Good morning.."
I looked at Saito and smiled at her. "Good morning, Saito.." I said then leaned down to kiss her forehead.
Saito's cheeks became a bit red as I kissed her forehead. She sat up and got closer to me then kissed my lips gently. I gently kissed her back. She slowly broke the kiss then got out of bed. "Saito is ready to get ready for the day."
I nodded and got up as well. "Alright let's get ready to head out."
-----
Yumeji yawned as she walked to the living room in her academy uniform then sat on the couch. She turned on the TV and her eyes widened.
Kikyo heard Yumeji scream then hurried to the living room. She looked at Yumeji then looked at the TV. She gasped and covered her mouth.
"....This graph shows how much control the the Risen have around the world. We fear this is the beginning of a Dark Revolution. The Leader of the Valkyrias have called this the Era of Cataclysm. We have been informed to tell everyone to retreat to the nearest support base. Until Qiao Zhi dies, we can not leave the base for any reason." The news reporter said.
"This is bad...they control 95% of the world. If they keep spreading, they will soon reach across the solar system and soon the entire galaxy. If we don't stop them now...we're doomed." Kikyo said.
Yumeji looked at Kikyo then stood up. "I don't know if we can even win anymore... We've been at a stalemate and Hisumi is the only one who can do some any significant damage against Qiao Zhi."
Kikyo sighed softly and looked down at the ground. She shook her head and looked at Yumeji. "We have to at least try. We are Rulers now. This is our calling! We might not be as strong as Hisumi, but we can still do our part."
I walked into the living room and looked at Kikyo and Yumeji then turned my attention to the broadcast on the TV. I sighed softly and held my arms. "We are going to have to work extra hard to win this war, but how are we going to break through Qiao Zhi's power?"
"We would need someone stronger, but none of us can even reach that kind of power besides you and Dr. Nagini." Kikyo said, looking at me.
"Yeah, but even we struggle to keep up. Qiao Zhi has the power of the Ruler of Hell. That's pretty difficult to beat. He still has Siroz with him and she's gonna be a pain to defeat as well.." I said.
"Saito thinks we should go to the Infinity Council for assistance." Saito suggested as she walked into the living room.
"You think they will have an answer?" Kikyo asked.
"Probably not. Nagini usually has an answer for everything, but this time she's as lost as I am. Maybe Misao could help." I said.
"It's worth a shot." Yumeji sighed.
-----
"We still need a way to defeat Qiao Zhi let alone his new army of Cataclysm Beasts. We've been at a stalemate due to most of us being Rulers and the power of you all." Yusa said.
"The situation has become extremely dire. We need any form help we can get...but we can't contact other worlds or even find suitable people on Earth for us to get assistance." Orishi said.
"We can ask the Neko Crew. They seem to have contacts with another planet." Sayoko suggested.
"No...I don't think we can ask the Esorian People...none of them other than their God is strong enough to defeat Qiao Zhi and even that is debatable. Even their Goddesses don't even compete with our weakest Dark Lord." Nagini said.
"We can awaken the Hero." Misao said.
Everyone looked at her then Nagini heard the door opening and looked at the door.
I walked into the Infinity Council room and made my way toward the meeting desk. "Hey I came by to ask if Misao could do something."
Misao looked at me. "What's up?"
"Do you have any ideas of what we could do to gain an upper hand in this war?" I asked. "I'm stumped, Orika's stumped, even Yae and Iori are stuck." I sighed.
"Well I might have an idea, but it's only something you and I can do." Misao said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"We are going to awaken the Hero." Misao said.
"Hero?" I asked and looked at Nagini.
"She means the Hero of Origin. The man who became the strongest being in Human Realm history. He goes by Henosis, but that's the first Hero of Origin. She's going to awaken Steven, the reincarnation of the Hero of Origin." Nagini explained.
"Steven? Hero of Origin? What the hell has Earth been through?" I asked.
"The Zodiac Era. You see to awaken Steven, we need to awaken the Zodiac Temples. There are 12 Temples that need to be awakened, but...in this time period they were destroyed." Misao said.
"So...how are we gonna awaken him?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"We are going to traverse back in time using the Infinity Realm." Misao said.
"That's...that's possible?" I asked.
"Only us Mikos are able to time travel. That's why it's up to only us to do this. Changing the past will certainly change the present now, but this is for the better." Misao said then stood up.
"Mom, what do you have to say about this?" I asked.
"I say it's too dangerous...you're going back at least 30 years! Do you know how long Steven's been dead? How long ago those Temples were destroyed? In history, those Temples never got restored after Darkness practically destroyed Earth!" Yusa said.
"She's right." Nagini said. "I won't risk the probability of possibly losing my lab rat. There's another way to open the Temple of Origin."
"What is it?" Misao asked.
"The Zodiac Gems and the Four Keys you need to open the gates leading to the Temple. It is said in legend the Hero was a Zodiac, Angel, Demon, and Spirit. The Four Original Races. Having these Keys and Gems will awaken the Hero of Origin and grant you the Hero's Core. The Sovereigns obviously created this Hero because they knew the dangers...but.." Nagini said.
"He was killed in the First Origin War." Ataraxia said. "He wasn't reborn until the Zodiac Era in 2016 maybe."
"I see. Well we have no time to waste the faster we get those Gems and Keys, the faster we can awaken him." I said.
"We shall use the Infinity Realm to get around. There's no way those Gems are as easy to find as our Cores and Gems. You'll need Zodiac Energy to sense it and none of us has that." Misao said.
"I heard if you go to America and find a city named Zodiac Square there's a woman with Zodiac Power. Her name is...Yufumi I believe. She comes from a different world all together." Nagini said.
"America it is then." I said.
"We shall head out now. The quicker we do this, the quicker we can defeat Qiao Zhi." Misao said.
"Good luck out there." Ataraxia said.
"We will do what we can here. We will try to retake Japan while you all are gone." Nagini said.
"Right." I nodded.
Misao opened a portal to the Infinity Realm and hurried inside. I followed behind and the portal closed.
"Alright, now let's think of a plan to take out these new variants of the Fallen." Nagini said.
-----
Misao and I walked out of the portal and entered an abandoned city. I looked around and felt nothing but dreading energy from the city. I walked forward and looked around.
"It's abandoned and ruined. It looks like this city hasn't been touched in forever. What happened here?" I asked.
"After Steven's death and the eradication of the Zodiac Race...only remnants of the Zodiac remain. Zodiac Energy and Power are scarce. Fortunately for us, based on what Nagini said we are in luck." Misao answered.
As we walked around the city, we noticed a group of Cataclysm Beasts spawn in front of us from dark portals. I summoned my weapons then glared at the beasts.
"Look!" Misao pointed at a statue behind the wave of beasts.
I looked up and noticed a woman sitting on the hands of the statue. She looked at us and smirked. I watched her stand up. "Who is that..?"
"I don't know.." Misao said.
"Valkyrias! Rulers! I am glad you came here because Qiao Zhi thought of the same thing. My name is Tsumaki. I am a Kuro Miko." Tsumaki said.
"Kuro Miko?" I asked.
"She's a Dark Priestess. She works for Qiao Zhi. She's the summoner of these beasts...we have to take her down!" Misao bellowed then transformed into her Frozen Sakura Form.
I nodded and awakened my Ryu Ruler Form then charged at the group of Cataclysm Beasts. Misao lunged herself toward the group as well and her ice aura surged powerfully around her body. Together we took on the beasts and recognized how difficult taking at least one out was. These were different from the Fallen, Monsters, and the Risen.
I groaned as a beast knocked me away. I grunted as I landed on the ground. I looked up and noticed Misao getting surrounded by the Cataclysm Beasts. I stood up then bellowed and multicolored lightning surged around my body.
Tsumaki watched me and rose an eyebrow. "What is this power..? Her power level is constantly rising.."
I launched myself toward the group of beasts then began to slice through the group, killing each one nearly instantaneously. A few of the beasts turned their attention to me then went for attacks directly at me. I blinded them with a blast of light then snapped my fingers and a powerful bolt of lightning crashed down and eliminated the beasts in one blow.
"Thank you." Misao said and smiled at me.
I nodded then looked at Tsumaki. "Face us you coward!" I roared and my aura surged powerfully.
Tsumaki smirked and jumped down from the statue. She summoned her spear and it began to emit Fell Energy. "You've intrigued me. Your power...your Willpower. Something about you just pisses me off!" She yelled and her aura surrounded her body.
I glared at Tsumaki then made my swords disappeared and summoned my gauntlets then lunged myself toward her at godly speeds. I hopped with a twirl and kicked with a crescent movement, but she blocked my attack then pushed me back. I landed on the ground then went for another strike, but she dodged and thrusted her spear at me. I parried her attack then quickly struck her multiple times then knocked her to the air.
I propelled myself after her and bellowed then struck her face, sending her crashing into a building. I generated a ball of lightning energy in my hand then threw it at Tsumaki. Tsumaki swung her spear and sliced the ball in half. She noticed the lightning sphere shine a bright yellow color then explode, creating an electric field, shocking her.
I flew after her then constructed a great sword out of my lightning energy then slashed down at her. She grunted and tried to avoid my attack, but I stopped my downward slash to slash in a circle, hitting her and sending her crashing through multiple walls.
I landed on the floor and walked toward her. I avoided Fell Energy rays being fired at me then dashed forward. I jumped off the wall to avoid a beam of fell energy then rolled forward and constructed a bow from fire energy and summoned an arrow, firing the massive fire arrow at Tsumaki.
The arrow set the path ablaze then struck Tsumaki, generating a massive explosion. Misao noticed and looked impressed then grunted as she sensed a powerful being in the area. She avoided a massive fireball and slid backwards. She readied her weapon then looked around, trying to find the being.
Misao's eyes widened as she felt the blade of a sword against her neck. She looked back and noticed a woman with black hair, red eyes, and wearing a black and red battle dress. She had a Zodiac Symbol on her left shoulder.
"Who are you..?" The woman asked.
"You are Yufumi correct..?" Misao asked.
"Who's asking..?" She responded.
Misao ducked under the woman's slash then kicked her away. She slashed at the woman, hitting her then a barrage of delayed slashes struck her body, blowing her away. The woman groaned as she hit the ground and rolled backwards.
Misao looked at the woman then noticed the woman's powerful fire aura surging around her body. She noticed the Leo Symbol shined brightly in front of her. "Zodiac Power.."
The woman stood up and her hair slowly turned into flames and she glared at Misao. "Well I'll tell you something...I am Yufumi and I am the Zodiac you bastards are looking for, but I won't go down without a fight."
I flew out of the burning building then panted. "How is she still...alive..?"
Tsumaki chuckled as she began to transform into her Cataclysm Mode. "You're very powerful and I love it...but I won't go down without a proper fight!" She bellowed.
I glared and readied myself for battle. "I have to end this quickly. My body is becoming strained..."
"Prepare yourself Ruler of Willpower! Your end has come!" Tsumaki bellowed.